FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 17, 2018

 

WASHINGTON — Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) President and CEO Kevin M. Burke today welcomed separate House and Senate proposals to increase staffing levels of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at airports across the country.  The House proposal was introduced last week by Judiciary Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte, Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security Chair Raúl Labrador, Homeland Security Committee Chair Michael McCaul, Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security Chair Martha McSally. The Senate proposal was introduced earlier today by Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Claire McCaskill, Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jon Tester, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee member Heidi Heitkamp, and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee member Kamala Harris.

“With America enjoying tremendous growth in international travel in recent years, it is great to see bicameral and bipartisan support for more front-line CBP officers at our nation’s ports-of-entry.  Additional officers are long overdue as CBP already faces a severe staffing shortage of thousands of officers across all of our air, land, and sea ports. This is a problem that will only get worse when stronger border-security measures funnel more traffic through these ports.  Airports look forward to working with Congress and Trump Administration to ensure CBP has the additional staffing resources it needs to protect the American people by providing an efficient and effective screening process for everyone entering our country.”